Breaker plate structure for impact crusher and retaining means therefor



May 7, 1963 1'. E. BRIDGEWATER 8 BREAKER PLATE STRUCTURE FOR IMPACT CRUSHER AND RETAINING MEANS THEREFOR Filed June 26, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 zzw May 7, 1963 T. E. BRIDGEWATER 3,038,585

BREAKER PLATE STRUCTURE FOR IMPACT CRUSHER AND RETAINING MEANS THEREFOR Filed June 26, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

United States Patent BREAKER PLATE STRUCTURE FOR IMPACT CRUSHER AND RETAINING MEANS THEREFOR Thomas E. Bridgewater, Elmhurst, Ill. Adams Engineering Co., 2151 E. 83rd St., Chicago 17, Ill.) Filed June 26, 1961, Ser. No. 119,526 4 Claims. (Cl. 241-300) The present invention relates to a novel apparatus for crushing or pulverizing rocks, gravel, or any other desired material, and more particularly to a novel impact type crushing apparatus.

Apparatus of the general type contemplated herein includes a centrally located impeller structure for accelerating and projecting material to be crushed outwardly and against breaker plate means which encircle the impeller structure. The breaker plate means are subject to a high degree of abrasion and wear so that they must be replaced at intervals.

An important object of the present invention is to provide novel breaker plate members for an impact crushing apparatus of the above described type, which breaker plate members are constructed so that they may be easily and quickly mounted in the desired position or removed and replaced so as to promote more economical operation of the apparatus.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel breaker plate structure which is constructed so that various increments thereof may be independently and individually replaced in the event such increments become worn more than other portions .thereof.

Still another object of the present invention is to pro vide a crushing apparatus with novel means for supporting impact members of the above described type in a firm and secure manner and so that the impact members may be easily removed and replaced.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partial vertical sectional view showing an impact crushing apparatus incorporating features of .the present invention;

'FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken generally along line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view showing a portion of the structure for mounting breaker plate members in accordance with features of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a breaker plate element incorporating features of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken generally along lines 5-5 in FIG. 6 and showing a modified form of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary partial sectional view taken along line 66 in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 77 in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 88 in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 99 in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing an element of the breaker plate mounting means of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 59; and

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a breaker plate member incorporated in the assembly shown in FIGS. 5-9.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings wherein like parts are designated by the same numerals throughout the various figures, an impact crushing apparatus 20 incorporating features of the present invention is shown 'ice in FIGS. 1 and 2. The apparatus comprises an upstanding cylindrical housing member or shell 22 over which a cover 24 extends. An impeller structure 26 is centrally supported within the housing member 22 for rotation about a vertical axis, which impeller is driven by any suitable means such as a motor 28 disposed outside of the housing 22 and adapted to drive the propeller through pulleys 30 and 32 and a drive belt 34.

A tubular guide structure 36 extends through a central opening in the cover 24 for enabling material to be processed to be delivered into the housing and deposited centrally on the impeller structure. The impeller structure is provided with a generally radially extending plate means 38 on which blade members 40 are supported by means including brackets 42 for engaging and accelerating material to be processed and projecting such material generally radially outwardly from the impeller structure and against breaker plate means 44 mounted around the interior of the housing wall 22 in the manner described below.

In accordance with features of the present invention the breaker plate structure includes a plurality of plate members 46 shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. In this embodiment each plate member 46 is formed with a pair of oppositely but identically inclined outwardly facing surface portions 48 and 50 providing impact surfaces against which material to be processed is to be projected. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, members 46 are arranged in a circle around the periphery of the impeller structure. With the arrangement shown, the impact surfaces 48 of the members are disposed generally at right angles with respect .to the trajectories of material projected from the impeller structure when the impeller is rotated in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 2 so that these surfaces provide the primary areas of impact. The inclination of the surfaces 50 provides clearance so that the impact surfaces 48 will be substantially fully exposed to the material projected from the impeller structure. Furthermore by making the surfaces 48 and 50 uniform, the breaker plate members 46 are reversible, or, in other words, the breaker plate members may be installed without regard to the relative positions of the surfaces 48 and 50.

As shown best in FIG. 1, the breaker plate members 46 are not only circularly arranged around the impeller structure, but they are also vertically stacked. In other words, each of the individual breaker plate members 46 has a relatively small height or vertical extent so as to cover only a portion of the area over which material to be processed is projected from the impeller structure. Thus two or more of the plate members 46 are vertically stacked at each circumferential position around the impeller structure. In this connection it is noted that the volumes of material projected from the impeller struc ture at different levels vary so that it frequently occurs that one increment of the breaker plate structure 44 receives a greater amount of wear than another increment thereof either above or below the first increment. The worn increment of the breaker plate structure 44 may readily be replaced by changing one of the plate members 46 in each of the vertical stacks of plate members without replacing the other plate members. As will be understood, the plate members 46 are formed from a relatively expensive material having high abrasion resistant characteristics so that substantial economies may be obtained by replacing individual increments of the breaker plate structure rather than the entire structure.

In this embodiment the breaker plate structure includes support means for the plate members 46, which support means comprises a cylinder 52 having the desired height and diameter and disposed within the housing wall 22. The cylinder 52 is mounted on and supported by a ring 54 which in turn is supported "by suitable means 56 operatively fixed with respect to the housing wall 22, Elongated T-bars 58 are spaced around the interior surface of the cylinder 52. The T-shaped bars 58 are sub stantially vertically arranged with their stem portion 60 welded or otherwise secured to the cylinder -2 at equally spaced intervals. Oppositely extending flanges 62 and 64 of each T-shaped member 58 are spaced radially a. predetermined distance from the cylinder 52 and, if desired, may be provided with a curvature corresponding: to the curvature of the cylinder 52.

Each of the breaker plate members 46 is formed with an arcuate back surface having substantially the same curvature as the inner surface of the cylinder 52, which back surface of each breaker plate has a mid-portion relieved as indicated at 64 so as to provide opposite marginal abutment portions or pads 66 and 63 adapted firmly to engage the inner surface of the cylinder 52. Each of the plate members 46 is also provided with slots 70 and 72 adapted to accommodate flanges 62 and 64 of the T-bars 58. Thus, it is seen that the plate members 46 may be easily mounted. or removed and replaced by sliding them into or out of engagement with the T-bars'. 58. In the embodiment shown, the portion of the ring 54 projects radially inwardly of the cylinder 52 for providing a stop limiting downward movement of the breaker plate members 46. It is further to be noted that the distance between the radially inwardly facing surface of the cylinder 52 and the radially outwardly facing surfaces of the flanges 62 and 64 is closely similar to the distance between the surfaces of the pads 66 and 68 and the radially inwardly facing surfaces of adjacent slots 70. and 72 so that when the breaker plate members 46 are assembled with the T bars 58, they will be held firmly against the supporting surface of the cylinder 52.

The lateral extent of the flanges 62 and 64 is substantially less than the depth of the slots 70 and 72 so as to provide a substantial clearance between the longitudinal edges of the flanges and the bottoms of the slots and thereby facilitate assembly of the plate members 46 with the T-bars. In order to retain the plate members 46 against movement back and forth circumferenti-ally of the cylinder 52, the plate members 46 are formed so that they abut and support each other at points 74 when the structure is assembled as shown in FIG. 2.

In FIGS. 5-11, a further embodiment of the present invention is shown, which embodiment is similar to the structure described above as indicated by the application of identical reference numerals with the sufiix a added to corresponding parts. It is understood that in this embodiment the general structure of the crusher apparatus may be substantially the same as that shown in FIG. 1. Thus, this embodiment differs primarily in the construction of the means for mounting the breaker plate members 46a.

In this embodiment the above described T-bars are replaced by a plurality of pins 76 having elongated body portions 78 with a generally oval cross sectional configuration adapted to fit into complementary slots 70a and 72:: formed in the breaker plate members 46a. The pins 76 are adapted to be removably and pivotally mounted so as to facilitate assembly and replacement of the breaker plate members and also to promote firm engagement of the breaker plate members with the back-up or supporting surface of the cylinder 520. More specifically,

each pin is provided with rounded opposite end portions 89 and 82. Socket members 84 are welded or otherwise secured to the cylinder 5251 at spaced intervals, which members are provided withfrounded sockets 86 for pivotally receiving the lower end portions of the pins. In order to retain the upper ends of the pins, a ring member 88 is removably disposed on the upper margin of the cylinder 52a and carries a plurality of sockets members 9i) aligned with the socket members 84. The socket members 90 are provided with sockets 92 in the form of slots having a width substantially equal to the diameter of the pin portions 82 and extending radially substantially to the inner surface of the cylinder 52a. The pins are free to shift radially outwardly toward the cylinder 52a when material being processed is projected against the breaker plates so as to prevent the pins from absorbing any substantial part of the impact forces. At the same time the construction and proportioning of the parts is such that the pins tend to hold the breaker plate members firmly against the cylinder 52a.

While the preferred embodiments of-the present invention have been shown and described herein, it is obvious that many structural details may be changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. In an impact crushing apparatus of the type described; 11'1ClllCllIlg a central upstanding impeller structure for projecting material to be processed outwardly therefrom, the combination comprising upstanding cylinder means for surrounding the impeller structure, a plurality of breaker plate members arranged in a substantially closedring within said cylinder means, said breaker plate members having opposing marginal portionswith generally vertically extending opening means therein, and generally vertically disposed pin members, each of said pin members having an elongated transverse cross-section, means supported with respect to said cylinder means and pivotally supporting said pin members, said pin members extending into said opening means -for.retaining said breaker plate members with respect to said cylinder means.

2. A combination, as defined in claim .1, wherein each of said pin members includes upper and lower rounded ends having a diameterless than the major dimension of said elongated cross-section of the pin members, said means for supporting said pin members comprises socket means pivotally retaining said rounded ends of said pin members. i

3. A combination, as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for retaining said pin members comprises socket means for supporting ends of the pin members, which socket means are elongated along axes extending radially with respect to said cylinder means.

4. A combination, as defined in claim 1, which includes a plurality of additional breaker plate members similar to and stacked on top of saidfirst mentioned breaker plate members and retained by said vertically disposed members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,187,159 McKee et al. June 13, 1916 2,898,053 Rogers Aug. 4, 1959 2,991,949 Sellars July 11, 1961 

1. IN AN IMPACT CRUSHING APPARATUS OF THE TYPE DESCRIBED INCLUDING A CENTRAL UPSTANDING IMPELLER STRUCTURE FOR PROJECTING MATERIAL TO BE PROCESSED OUTWARDLY THEREFROM, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING UPSTANDING CYLINDER MEANS FOR SURROUNDING THE IMPELLER STRUCTURE, A PLURALITY OF BREAKER PLATE MEMBERS ARRANGED IN A SUBSTANTIALLY CLOSED RING WITHIN SAID CYLINDER MEANS, SAID BREAKER PLATE MEMBERS HAVING OPPOSING MARGINAL PORTIONS WITH GENERALLY VERTICALLY EXTENDING OPENING MEANS THEREIN, AND GENERALLY VERTICALLY DISPOSED PIN MEMBERS, EACH OF SAID PIN MEMBERS HAVING AN ELONGATED TRANSVERSE CROSS-SECTION, MEANS SUPPORTED WITH RESPECT TO SAID CYLINDER MEANS AND PIVOTALLY SUPPORTING SAID PIN MEMBERS, SAID PIN MEMBERS EXTENDING INTO SAID OPENING MEANS FOR RETAINING SAID BREAKER PLATE MEMBERS WITH RESPECT TO SAID CYLINDER MEANS. 